My name is Emylee. I am almost 16 years old and a sophomore in high school. I LOVE animals. Have any of you ever heard of a sugar glider before? Well, if not and you wanna see pics I'll post some. I have a sugar glider named Shadow. Animals are my world. I have always hated the bad sterotype that pits have. It makes me so sad because they are the sweetest dogs.

I saved my little angel from death or a bad home. Her name is Nemesis. And she LOVES to chew! She keeps crying and I don't know why. It makes me sad. BUT she is a VERY good girl! She is only 6 weeks and she makes sure I know when she has to go out to go potty. We haven’t had very many accidents at all.

I think she cries to get attention. It's so sad though. She is the cutest thing and I SO wish that I had pics to share! I need to get a new camera. I lost the cord thingy and haven’t been able to find another one that will work with it. She is black with a brown paws and some brown on her chest and face. She prances and it's the cutest thing! The way she lifts her paws up. And she is SOOO smart! She already knows what stay means and when I tell her to follow she does. And what shhhhh means. Waking up every 2 hours to take her out is making me so tired. But she's worth it. I’ve got another question for you all!

Do you think that aggression can be genetic at all? I hear of "mean" pits all the time, but it doesn’t have anything to do with genetics right? Just a bad owner? My little girls mom is a sweetheart but her grandparents unfortunately were not. Is there anything I can do besides be a good owner that might prevent aggression?

All I can say is that I thank God my little girl is with me now instead of the alternative. I couldn't rescue all 7 of the puppies but I at least know that one of them is in good hands. The rest might not be so lucky. They are going to whoever wants them, and I live in the kind of neighborhood where everyone has pits not for pets, but for protection. It just breaks my heart. I pray the other lil ones find a good home where they will be loved.

I hope to get to know you all better, and this looks like an awesome site.

You have to be granted access to the rest of the board before you can post anywhere else. While you wait stick around and do some reading, there are fantastically smart people around here! You'll find lots of info to answer your questions.

Thanks so much for the welcome. When will I be allowed to post in other forums?

Here's a pic of my glider Shadow, but sadley I don't have any of my pit Nemesis yet.

And here's a pic of me. Just incase yall like putting a face on the name.

I hope to get to know you all better. I think we'll get along great. I have always loved pits to death, and I'm just so happy I finally got one! And the best part is I saved her. Makes me really happy to know we both got something outta this.

K9Siren wrote:There is no "agressive" gene. It's all in responsible owners. You will find a lot of good information on this board.

Sorry, Siren, but I have to disagree a bit there. There's not an aggressive gene, no, but the fact that our dogs have been bred for thousands of years to be animal aggressive cannot be "fixed" by a responsible owner. The animal aggression is not gone, it is dealt with properly and contained, so problems are avoided by a responsible owner.

Am I splitting hairs? Maybe, but I think it is a very important difference.

Emylee, one of the site admins has to grant you full access and they both have full time jobs and families to care for, so sometimes it takes a couple days. Hang in there and they will be along soon.

Unstable, human aggressive pit bulls are often the result of bad genetics, not abuse at the hands of humans. This breed is supposed to be loving and trustworthy of humans to a fault, despite any abuse they might experience.

The "mean" dogs we hear about are nearly always the products of bad breeding combined with a bad upbringing.

You can't make a temperamentally sound, bomb-proof pit bull into a bad dog that will harm a human being, any more than you can make a genetically unstable, human aggressive pit bull into a dog that will be 100% sound and bomb-proof in all situations.

The dogs that we see spring back resiliently from abusive situations speak to good genetics triumphing over a bad environment. With such a large population of pit bulls, we are naturally going to hear of some who have bad temperaments. Many irresponsible people breed the "mean" pit bulls because they want guard dogs, and that indiscriminant, irresponsible breeding is what has gotten us into the trouble we're in today. Regardless of how the animal was raised, an American Pit Bull Terrier that attacks a human being is unacceptable.

Animal aggression is also genetic, and is a trait that is normal in the APBT. It can't be trained or socialized out. Training can help an APBT to control itself under supervision, but the animal aggression will still be there. An APBT that is animal aggressive is not mean or unstable--it's just a normal pit bull. It is very important to note that human aggression and animal aggression are not interchangeable, and a stable, sound APBT can differentiate between an animal and a human.